New activities premiere at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival

NEW IN 2013 AT THE MINNESOTA RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL!

SHAKOPEE, Minn., (Jun. 22, 2013) –Something NEW, something FUN and something for EVERYONE! We have it all here at the 2013 Minnesota Renaissance Festival including a number of new and exciting events and attractions.

So many games, so little time! The Festival is now filled with 50 Free Children’s Activities adults and kids can enjoy together. Have lunch with the Princess Court, make a wish at the wishing well, or take a photo with the Pirates. It’s fun, free, and for everyone!

Continue with your magical journey and stop into the Fairy Wing Forest filled with fairies, pixies and magical creatures. As you travel the path, you will be transported to a world with wonder, whimsy and magic.

The Renaissance has its very own LIVE MERMAID! No longer only known to lost sailors, visitors to the Festival can now see mermaids up close! Watch as they dive, twirl, and swim majestically through the water. If you’re lucky, they may share a piece of their magic with you!

Experience how to make gas bombs, rainbow snake bubbles, elephant toothpaste and Newtonian beads at the Dr. Thora Pandora Science Show. The child friendly show is held daily at 12pm & 2pm in Alice the Cook’s Sand Lot and free for all patrons!

Make your visit to the Festival one of your best date nights ever with the Renaissance Romance Package. Enjoy a private one hour rendezvous with your significant other in a magical garden setting while sipping on wine and nibbling on light snacks. The package includes two admission tickets into the festival, a private server, a bottle of wine, two wine glasses, a light snack and a musical entertainment for one hour. Held daily at 11:30am, $70 per couple.

The Renaissance is hosting their very fist Mead Social! Come taste various flavors of honey mead while mingling with entertainers and friends. Tickets are $25 per person which includes a collectable Renaissance mead glass! Held daily at 4:00 pm.

Grab your apron and mixing bowl and whip up something delicious. The Festival is hosting its very first Cupcake Battle. You don’t have to be professional baker to partake in this battle—all you need is big imagination… and maybe a little bit of baking skills. The battle will be split up into two categories, professional and amateur and the chance to win great prizes. Cost is $25 per person per day, September 14 and 15 and includes a free admission ticket!

Food fit for a King or Queen. The Festival has added eight newmouthwateringfoods to the list. Indulge in the new Barbarian Beef Burger, Mexican Burritos, Summer Harvest Pizza, Vegetarian Pies, Candied Almonds, or Friar Tuck’s Tator Tots then end by licking your lips with Cheesecake Chimis. There is food to satisfy everyone’s taste buds.

Part music act, part street act—be entertained by the new “reformed” ruffians group, Pro’s and Con’s at the Festival. The group features both traditional and original music, but mostly hoodwinking, tom foolery and mayhem! It’s no ordinary concert.

Take a little of the Renaissance back home with you while you shop until you drop...while saving money and getting rewarded! Get a hold of the Festival’sArtisan Coupon Book filled with over $500 in savings for only $1.00 while shopping the new Artisan booths in the realm. Dress up your outfit with some new jewelry form Queen’s Ink, get your face painted at King’s Palette Face Painting, or buy a new wardrobe at Her Majesty’s Royal Hatter. As you shop during our Artisan Appreciation weekends August 18, 19, 25 & 26 and September 1st & 2nd you will be able to support your favorite Shoppes’ and get rewarded! Spend $250 at any Artisan booths and receive one FREE admission ticket to return on any of the remaining weekends!

The Minnesota Renaissance Festival 43rd season begins on Saturday, August 17 and ends on September 29, 2013. The Festival is open weekends; Labor Day and Festival Friday, September 27, 2013 open from 9 a.m. – 7 p.m., rain or shine. The Festival is located five miles south of Shakopee on Hwy 169. Admission at the gate: Adults $21.95; Children 5 – 12 $12.95; seniors $19.95; four and under are free! Discount coupons are available at participating Menards, Super America, Whole Foods, and Walgreens. Visit www.renaissancefest.com or call 952.445.7361 for more information.